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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!houxm!vax135!cornell!prins
From: prins@cornell.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: measuring torque in-situ?
Message-ID: <1886@cornell.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 25-Oct-84 23:49:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: cornell.1886
Posted: Thu Oct 25 23:49:48 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Oct-84 09:37:53 EDT
Sender: prins@cornell.UUCP
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept.
Lines: 20

From: prins (Jan Prins)
Is there a way to continuously transduce engine torque somewhere along the
driveline?  That information could be useful in an ignition/fuel injection
control system attempting to maximize engine output.  A long time ago I 
heard of an unlikely scheme involving a photomultiplier and a laser shining 
over a driveline component that 'bent' minutely under increasing load.

Does such a device exist?  Is it ever used to supply data to an engine
control system?  Or are the various other engine parameters (e.g. intake
air mass, air/cylinder temperature, oxygen content of exhaust, detection 
of preignition) adequate for indirect determination of output?

With such an input, a digital engine control system (e.g. Bosch motronic)
could lend itself very well to a bit of 'in-the-software' engine tuning 
(although you could really wreck things up).  

Yann Prins   cornell!prins   (prins@cornell.arpa
                              prins@cornell.csnet
                              prins@crnlcs.BITNET)